Alan Bennett gives us a comedy about fame, family, and male insecurity as we follow Franz Kafka, history’s most reluctant “influencer”. The action begins in 1920s Prague then plunges into 1980s suburbia.

Audition information: Auditions will be held at KW Little Theatre (9 Princess Street East, Waterloo) on January 21–23, 2024, 1:00–5:30 on the 21st and 7–10pm on the 22nd and 23rd; callbacks will be on Wednesday January 24, also at the theatre. Your audition will consist of delivering a monologue and reading from the script. No monologue prepared? No worries! The team will have a selection of pieces you can read at auditions. We encourage actors to sign up in advance, but walk-ins are always welcome.

Rehearsal and performance information: Rehearsals will be three times a week, to be scheduled based on actor availability. Performances will be April 18–20, 25–27, and May 2–4 in the evenings; these dates as well as the tech and dress rehearsals on April 13–16 are mandatory for all actors.

About the characters: There are six characters, five male and one female:

• Franz Kafka*: Kafka is in constant conflict between his hunger for recognition and his fear of fame, between his desire for approval and his quest to be left alone. In this play Kafka finds himself a Reluctant Influencer: his is world-famous — but unable to actually influence the people around him. Kafka gets trapped into a Devil’s bargain in a last-ditch attempt to preserve some privacy in our insatiable world.
• Max Bodick: Kafka’s biographer and best friend. Smart, funny, and confident. Max deals with Kafka’s doubts, hypochondria, and hyper-melancholy, by serving up heavy helpings of optimism and irony to his friend (and the audience).
• Sydney: An insurance man with scholarly aspirations. Sydney is as devoted fan of Franz Kafka, and has dedicated his life to amassing all facts, fiction, and trivia about his idol.
• Linda: Warm, attractive, down-to-earth and completely bored with her role as Sydney’s suburban housewife. A retired nurse, Linda’s mind runs to the more practical than the intellectual.
• Father: Sydney’s 80ish-year-old father is convinced that everyone wants to put him in an old age home. His plan to prove mental fitness by constantly reciting facts about the world and current events makes him run counterpoint to the chaos.
• Hermann K: Kafka’s much-feared father, now returned to life as a police officer. Hermann is full of joie de vivre, if joie de vivre were to mean loud, obnoxious, and vulgar. Hermann has zero patience with his son’s physical frailties, artistic sensibilities, career choice, and fame.

*: The real Franz Kafka died of tuberculosis in 1924 at the age of 41, with most of his works unknown. While on his deathbed, Kafka made his best friend Max Bodick promise to burn all of his works. Max gave his word, but went on to publish Kafka’s works posthumously, breaking his promise but giving the world Kafka’s tales of social alientation, surreal visions, and bureaucracy gone mad. His works have grown in stature throughout the 20th and 21st centuries — along with an equal fascination with his private life. The word Kafkaesque enjoys an official entry in the dictionary.

Questions? Contact the production team at kafkasdick@kwlt.org. We will also be holding an information session with the director on January 14, 2pm at 44 Gaukel Street in Kitchener.